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Mort, I feel for you. I bought a lovely model, Zetec but with heated leather seats and when it worked, drove lovely. But you can see from this thread, it is a known problem and like the rest of us, only looked into the issue once online once we had experienced the fault. As it has only been 4 weeks, try and get your money back as you'll be throwing good money after bad as you can see from mine, c-maxxers and other c-max owners reports. Feel free to print off my receipts and use in your defence that this is a fault that Ford do not know how to fix together with this thread. I'd also recommend letting Watchdog as they'll only pursue a story if they receive several complaints. We need to get the message out there to stop others making the same mistake that we have. It is a shame, we have all said the same 'It would be a gorgeous car - if only it worked!' If you get your money back, I went for a Vauxhall Vectra, some great bargains to be with those and C-Maxxer bought a Skoda Roomster which I believe he is also pleased with. I personally won't be touching Ford again for some time although I had received crap service and attitudes from Ford staff also. Good luck

c-maxxer, I hope you have emailed Watchdog reference this as this week they reported similar faults with 2.2 Vauxhall Vectra's, (fortunately I've just purchased a 3.0), so they need to be made aware by as many C-Max owners as possible that this is a problem with these early CVT's also. I think you are doing the right thing. I only took my car to the garage 4 times to realise that they had no idea what the fault was and as Ford HQ were not bothered on the several times when I had contacted them, the C-Max had to go. You will have lost a lot of money part-ex'ing the car in but look at all the benefits you'll have - you will no longer be putting yourself at risk each time you get into the car, you will be able to chill out and enjoy driving again (I certainly have done) and although you may have lost money on your C-Max, you will be able to get yourself a much better built, reliable car and at cost price thanks to the current financial climate. It is a shame, put aside the creaks from the doors and rattles from the dashboard, the C-Max could have been a good car if only it had not been engineered by muppets on a budget. Have you noticed the vanity lights behind the visors and that they are the same on both sides, just one is flipped over so that it switches in the opposite direction? Cheap, tacky and really sums the car up. Go now, get looking on Auto Trader and turn your back on Ford for good. You have given them far too much money for nothing and what have you got to show for it? If you're like me, years off your life through stress and more grey hair! Take care, Mark

c-maxxer, Didn't get a good price for it really, paid £6.7k for it in June last year, got £4k for it part-ex. However, the things that I took into consideration are the fact that this required yet another visit to the garage, in my opinion, which would encounter cost, the fact that I have no faith that a Ford garage will be able to fix it and also the fact that due to the financial climate we are in, you can get a much better built car with a higher specification for very little money. I would advise you to seriously consider other alternatives to handing over money to Ford to diagnose an unfixable fault and also realise that you life is worth more than a couple £k should your current visit to Ford turn out the same way as all the previous visits. I do hope your garage finds the fault together with whoever ends up with my car, I do feel guilty part-ex'in the car unlike the dealer who sold me the car, I had just had enough of not only the fault we are all talking about here but also the creaks from the door seals and the push fit plastic panels. I just didn't know where to take it other than my local Ford dealership who, as you already know, I will never visit again, ever!

Guys, I can no longer play Russian Roulette with the lives of my family and after breaking down 4 times during a trip to Essex on Boxing day, I have made up my mind. I pick up a Vauxhall Vectra in the next few days and am turning my back on the cowboys at Ford for good. I hope you have more luck than I but losing the 2.5K in 8 months while owning the car does not even register after having to cross busy motorways and A roads while randomly losing power. I have registered my complaint with Ford HQ who were not really interested, Citizens Advice and Watchdog in the hope that Ford will come up with some sort of resolution. Although, I would suggest that you do the same as I and get rid if your car is doing the same as mine before someone has a fatality and not keep throwing money away by visiting dealerships and paying for them to just run diagnostics who do not care! I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that as many people as possible hear of this as this is not an isolated case, but one which Ford know about, so far have been unwilling to rectify and have put the lives of my family, my own and others at risk.

C-Maxxer, I have thought about 'chipping' it too although I was hoping that Mickeej would hurry up and prove it with his replacement ECU from a 2006 model! LOL If it does prove to be the answer, I may just try this method before I part-ex it in as I have already spent £600 for nothing as you know. I'll have more time this weekend to trawl through the internet and look at the feasibility of it, and prices, although it has to worth a shot. I also received a reply email from Ford HQ today wanted me to speak to their customer relations team. They can ring me as far as I am concerned, I have wasted far too much money and time speaking to idiots and I will not go back to Sleaford Ford until I receive an apology for their rude and arrogant bahaviour and we both know that will never happen!! I just thought, there may be a business oppportunity here C-Maxxer - given the amount of faulty C-Max's out there, I'd better dig out my old chip programmer? ;) ******************* I could have purchased a complete 2006 TDCi engine on ebay (Item number 320321750494) for the same money I've just given to Ford, for doing nothing!!

What can I say....... I took the Honest Johns printout to the garage this evening and asked if they would check the items mentioned. I had a very rude and irrate mechanic instantly dismissing all the points listed and basically made out that I did not know what I was talking about and that noone at the garage had experienced the issues that I had been complaining about. WELL, SLEAFORD FORD, CHECK THE FIRST JOB CARD (ATTACHED TO SAVE YOU LOOKING) AND READ WHAT THE FIRST ENGINEER WROTE ON EXPERIENCING THE FAULT FOR HIMSELF!!!! I weren't going to mention the garage, but my partner no longer wishes to buy her new Focus due to their arrogance and lack of customer service skills, but instead is looking at her second choice which is a Honda Civic. I will never buy a Ford again and I am currently looking for a garage to accept my car as part-ex. These bills have also gone as a complaint to Ford Head Office and I will be contacting the Citizens Advice Burea in the morning. You would have thought that in the current financial climate, They would be making every opportunity to raise business rather than turn them away. scan0056.pdf

Mickeej, That's very interesting.... plus, I hadn't read the HJ website. I'm due to see the garage shortly to pay for the time spent miss diagnosing the fault so far, I'll be taking a copy of this with me and going to get them to check. I can't even get mad now, I'm just sat in disbelief as HJ's report was written in April and still deny there being a problem. I know times are hard but trying to convince me that i need a new gearbox at £4k?! If you do go ahead with this Mickeej, please let others know how you get on here but do bare in mind what c-maxxer is saying, we wouldn't want you unecessarily lining the pockets of Ford anymore than you already have, unless of course you can get your hands on one out of a scrappy.

Well, I have the car back. Mechanics have looked at the car again and after 2 days, 1/4 of a tank of fuel, they still cannot find anything wrong! I have been told that there is nothing wrong with the engine, wiring and sensors and that it can only be the 'Speed Sensor' in the Auto gearbox which, just so happens to be a sealed box and costs £4k. I think it is time to get rid of this damn car and this whole experience of build quality, customer service and lack of assistance by a dealership has made up my mind never to buy Ford again! I always did fancy one of those Chrysler PT Cruisers anyway.... B)

strongpajda, Do a google search for "Ford M Serial Calc" You should be able to find a small program to do this. Worked a treat on mine. If you cannot find it, do as mintalkin suggests and post your serial number here, someone will be able to reply back with a code for you to try

c-maxxer, I have just watched your video - this is exactly the same as mine! When it hesitates, if you look in your rear mirror, all you can see in the following cars headlights is a plume of smoke. This is so annoying that this has to be down to faulty or badly designed sensors and Ford are just interested in charging for parts and time taken in incorrectly diagnosing the fault. AAhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have contacted Watchdog. I want everyone reading this who has a similar fault to do so as this seems the only way this will ever get resolved

How very bizarre! My C-Max went into the garage yesterday (Monday 1st December) following a phonecall to them on Saturday after I had received a receipt for £177 for not being able to diagnose the fault yet again and for taking the fuel tank off! During my very angry phonecall, I was told that this was to check the fuel tank and make sure that there was nothing like a...... wait for it........... a carrier bag in the tank!!!!! Wot the F*#k!!! Well I dropped the car off last night, picked up my 'courtesy car', a 2001 Ford Fiesta with broken headlamps, no washer fluid and vapours for fuel. I called them this afternoon and yet again they explained that there were no fault code apart from one which, related to the traction control, although they could not be sure. They need more tests and have been in touch with 'Ford' who could not really help other than advise to check all connectors and sensors once again. I'm sorry but as an IT Professional, I need to be able to fix faults without a piece of software telling me what is wrong. Do all Ford engineers know what they are doing or have Ford made a huge FUBAR in releasing a faulty car not fit for purpose? Well so far, between us, we can say that it is not the MAF sensor, not the crankcase breather hose, not due to interference and so no need to re-route cables, not due to oil contamination in the Air Mass Meter and definately not due to carrier bags in the fuel tank (twats). Like you c-maxxer, I'm regretting ever coming back to Ford!

C-MAXXER, I've been looking through the manual - see atached. Page 33 explains about that acceleration will be noticeably reduced if the Electronic Accelerator Control (EAC) detects a malfunction. Sounds like just the fault that we are all experiencing! Maybe the 1/8th of a tank is a red herring, I'll have to wait and see again and run it to that level (oh god!) or maybe the whole ECU is screwed up! C_MAX0001.pdf

I don't believe it!! On the way to work today you'll never guess (I'm blaming you by the way c-maxxer) I came off an island, put my foot down and it accelerated about 1MPH faster per second. I floored it, as far as the pedal would go and the gearbox changed down, rev shot up as you would expect but would not accelerate! JUST HOW F%*&ING DANGEROUS IS THAT!!!! I need to find the time now to get the car back to the dealers. It's as though the car had gone into a safe mode so I'll have to recheck the manual in a minute. I had about 1/8 tank of fuel at the time and when I mentioned this to my partner, she said that she also had an experience with this amount of fuel in the tank since getting it back from the dealership. The original fault, the hesitating and short burst of power loss has not reoccurred, but this more than makes up for it! I can't for the life of me think what would cause the car to behave in this manner and not accelerate even though you can be in any gear and engine at any revs!? I have reported this to watchdog and I hope other C-MAX owners will do the same as this is so dangerous and obviously not an isolated problem! I do not see why we should charged for what is clearly a design fault.